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INEC TO ADOPT SIMULTANEOUS VOTER ACCREDITATION, VOTING FOR 2015

There are indications that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may adopt simultaneous voter’s accreditation and voting to save time at the 2015 general elections based on envisaged used of automated voter identification and authentication through the use of live voter cards.

This was part of the communiqué issued at the end of the 3-day interactive retreat with Senate Committee on INEC and House Committee on Electoral Matters in Giginya, Sokoto State.

Participants also encouraged INEC to take over conduct of elections at the local government level in view of anomalies observed in the various states during elections at the local level even as the INEC pledged to respect federal structures as entrenched in the grand norms and other extant laws.

The INEC chairman however promised that the commission would live up to the billings if the Constitution and the relevant Electoral Act were amended and such mandates were transferred to INEC.

The INEC also got the nod to introduced card readers in the accreditation process stressing that the introduction of card readers would make future elections more credible. Besides participants at the retreat agreed that INEC and the National Assembly should consult widely with other stakeholders as key components in the distribution of permanent voter’s cards to registered voters adding that details of census data to be used for delimitation as well as criteria and guidelines should be made widely available within the public domain.